Clearly the scandal of horsemeat being passed off as beef is by no means confined to Ireland and is now a Europe-wide problem.

When Enda Kenny told the Dáil yesterday afternoon that the Government had agreed a deal with the European Central Bank on the Anglo Irish Bank promissory notes, the Taoiseach ended what seemed like a particularly frenetic few days of political and diplomatic activity.

The cruelty of the news cycle, the relentless, unavoidable nature of the next, more pressing topic, has been very evident over the last few days and hours.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan would not besurprised if we waited until the minutiae of the debt deal suggested last night was parsed before extending a complete welcome.

Even though we’ve endured report after report telling us how young and vulnerable people were exposed to evil by those entrusted with their care by the State, tacitly if not directly, Tuesday’s Magdalene report inevitably provoked a strong, passionate reaction.

Yesterday’s Magdalene report joined a litany of eviscerating documents detailing our past of neglect, abuse, and harrowing inhumanity.

The reintroduction of a species once common can cause controversy, but the return of white-tailed sea eagles to Irish skies was almost universally welcomed.

As next month’s day of reckoning over the wretched Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide €3.1bn promissory note looms ever closer, it is inevitable that the conversation or, more realistically, the debate around the issue will become ever more fraught.

The confirmation yesterday that a skeleton found under a car park in Leicester is that of Richard III is an indication of how far the science of DNA and its power as an investigative tool has advanced.

Ireland is Europe’s largest beef exporter and tens of thousands of jobs are utterly dependent on the trade.